Rare things to know about Black Tea

Why Black Tea?

With the variety of beverages available in the market today, choosing the best one for yourself becomes a bit tricky. In the case of tea, a lot of research reports and other evidence have suggested drinking tea can be a very healthy experience. As we all know, in today’s time, a large variety of teas are available.

Some varieties are brown in colour, some orange and some others pale yellow. Another interesting variety of teas is the black tea, flavoured black tea being the most popular. Most of us are intrigued by the name itself. This type is produced from large leaves of the Assam plant. The leaves are passed through a process involving complete oxidation.

Quite interestingly, black tea is a major part of the brews that are produced in the tropical and subtropical regions and comprises about 90% of the total.

The Oxidation Process:

Oxidation is basically the process of exposing something reactive to oxygen. As a result of this process, we get crushed brown leaves. Without full oxidation, it is complicated to produce a good quality black tea. The process is a major step in giving a strong aroma to the tea.

During the oxidation process, the enzymes present inside the leaves also get oxidized. This results in the darkening of the leaves’ green colour.

Categories of the Black Tea:

Black tea is divided into two broad categories: Orthodox and CTC. The bright red colour and the peculiar astringent flavour of the variety are the main features giving its appeal and uniqueness. Certain flavonoids like the flavins and the arubigins are produced during the oxidation process. These flavonoids are the ones that give it the colour, flavour, and taste.

1) Orthodox Tea:

As the name suggests, this particular variety of black tea is produced by a traditional manufacturing process in which the leaves are manually processed and rolled. The variety produced by this process helps to retain the wholeness of the leaves and hence makes the variety all the more unique. The rolled leaves are then fully oxidized.

The variety is light and brisk, and also a little more complex than its counterpart. The flavour of this variety has multiple layers.

2) CTC Tea:

The term CTC is an abbreviation of crushing, tearing and curling. The manufacturing of this variety is done mechanized resulting in granular leaves of varying sizes.

Grading

Based on the size of the grains, the brew is graded into three main categories, namely- broken, fanning and dust.

The broken type has the largest grain size, whereas the dust type is obtained after the sieving process. The fanning grade lies in between the broken and the dust grades. In the CTC type, the grains having a smaller assize have greater combined surface area than the orthodox variety. Hence, CTC is capable of providing a full bodied stronger cup of tea faster than the orthodox type.

Black tea is among the most popular varieties of teas like ceylon loose leaf tea and other beverages all around the world. China, Sri Lanka, and India are the three major countries that produce black tea traditionally. Besides these, Africa, South America and some other parts of Asia also produce the variety.

The manufacturing process begins with the plucking of leaves from the Camellia sinensis bush. After this, the leaves are rolled properly and left to oxidize. This gives the tea its deep and dark colour and flavour. After the oxidation process, the leaves are fired in order to stop the oxidation and for the removal of moisture. Flavourings and scents are added to the brew during the processing or maybe afterward.

Summary: Know in detail about the different features of black tea including its oxidation process and its types.